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View Poll Results: Without having seen them, who do you think fills the PG role better?

SVG Speaks on Knicks - Doubts Felton and Kidd.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — Former Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy says he’s dubious of the Knicks guards and of Amar’e Stoudemire’s offensive capabilities and doubts the Knicks have any shot at surpassing the Miami Heat for Eastern Conference supremacy.

“Their guard situation is very uncertain,” Van Gundy told SNY.tv during an exclusive interview at the Brayden Carr Foundation clinic Friday at Rutgers.

“[Iman] Shumpert when he comes back [from ACL surgery] will help them a great deal. I thought he was great defensively. But who’s playing the point?”

Told that Raymond Felton is penciled in to start at the point, Van Gundy seemed doubtful.

“He had his best year there, but he had his best year with [former coach] Mike [D'Antoni],” Van Gundy said. “It will be interesting to me if their guards are good enough to get them to where they want to go and I certainly don’t think they’re in Miami’s realm. I’m not even sure they’re in Boston’s realm or Chicago’s when [Derrick] Rose come back. Them and New Jersey are both lower-tier playoff teams.”

Van Gundy also has major doubts about whether Stoudemire can ever be the offensive force he was under D’Antoni with the Phoenix Suns.

“I like New York’s team,” Van Gundy said. “The thing to me is they haven’t quite figured out to get Amar’e going and get his numbers up. Carmelo [Anthony] is going to get his, he’s a great player. He’s going to get other people involved.

“But if you really go back in Amar’e's career, I know he doesn’t like playing center, but his best offensive years were all at center. Matching up against guys where he had quickness, he could pull them away from the basket.

“Now he’s at power forward and those guys can guard him a little bit more. They need to play [Tyson] Chandler [at center] because his defense is so good. I don’t know how Amar’e’ offense fits.”

Moreover, Van Gundy said, the Knicks and everyone else in the East still trail the Heat after Miami added Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis during the offseason.

“I don’t see anybody pushing the Heat very hard, I just don’t,” he said. “I think their pieces fit. I think that they did a good job in the offseason, I think they actually got better.

“I think Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis are going to be big helps to what they’re doing. Their depth has just increased quite a bit.”

As for his former star, Dwight Howard, heading West to the Lakers, along with Steve Nash, who spurned the Knicks, Van Gundy said, “On paper, they’re good.

“I think it’s how much Kobe [Bryant] and Steve Nash age is really the issue because they’ve obviously got great players,” he said. “Nash looked last year like he still had a lot in the tank, though he only played about 24, 25 minutes a game. Kobe’s still great, he’s not what he was, but he’s still great.

“But Dwight helps them so much, and if they get [Pau] Gasol more involved on the offensive end, I’ve been picking them to beat Oklahoma City in the West.”

Still, Van Gundy said he wonders whether the Lakers have enough shooting.

“They don’t have much reliable shooting outside STeve Nash and so I think people will be able to pack the paint and make it a little bit tougher,” he said. “But still I’ll take them because I think defensively they’re going to be overwhelming. EVen though Nash struggles, the other four guys are good defenders and Dwight’s the best defender in the league.”

Overall, Van Gundy likes the Heat over the Lakers or the Thunder in the Finals.

“But I don’t think either one of those teams, L.A. or Oklahoma City, at their best,” he said, “I do not think they beat Miami,”

Nash is going to help Dwight and Pau alot offensively, Im pickin the Lakers to win the championship.

Stan Van Gundy's a very smart guy, both him and his brother.

I think its up to Woodson to figure out how to use Kidd and Felton. He has unlimited options on offense, so many different styles he can choose and plays he can include. Defensively, obviously your gonna wanna use Felton on the quicker point guards. Its been proven that very fast guards leave scorch marks on Kidd. Felton in my opinion is solid defensively, nothin more or less.

I think we're near equally as questionable at shooting guard

Shumpert - Im optimistic that he'll come back healthy but hes still got some improving to do offensively and hes not a guy that will contribute nightly offensively. But his defense will be nice to have

JR Smith - didnt shoot good at all with us last year, I think he'll play better this year but I have to go with what I've seen, not what I think

Brewer - Great defender but limited offensively

Kidd will get some minutes at shooting guard, probably has the most consistent shot of any guard on the team. But once Shump comes back, i still see kidd getting some but very limited minutes at the 2 guard

The most questionable position to me is PF, will Stats back and knees even last a month?

I have faith in Felton this upcoming season but me personally i feel Kidd is the better fit in the starting lineup... it just makes more sense

J-Kidd
-better spot up shooter than felton
-controls the pace of games
-will definitely feed carmelo & Amare in the right spots
-Already has great chemistry with Chandler
-he'll easily get Brewer involved and toss him a couple lobs and cutting dishes.

why not just give kidd the start, and give Felton extended mins off the bench, then let J.kidd be the one on the court to close games out.

Felton could be that extra spark we need off the bench + i feel our second unit can run in a more faster pace uptempo game speed that will fit into Feltons style more.

I have faith in Felton this upcoming season but me personally i feel Kidd is the better fit in the starting lineup... it just makes more sense

J-Kidd
-better spot up shooter than felton
-controls the pace of games
-will definitely feed carmelo & Amare in the right spots
-Already has great chemistry with Chandler
-he'll easily get Brewer involved and toss him a couple lobs and cutting dishes.

why not just give kidd the start, and give Felton extended mins off the bench, then let J.kidd be the one on the court to close games out.

Felton could be that extra spark we need off the bench + i feel our second unit can run in a more faster pace uptempo game speed that will fit into Feltons style more.

I can see what your saying and agree with this mostly. Kidd would be a better fit ATM, but what happens in a year or two when Kidd really starts to fall off. Chemistry is a must and the Knicks will put Felton as the starting PG so that he and the rest of the starters get as much time together on the court as possible.

I'm all for using Kidd late in the game and I think when STAT is on the bench he and Melo should be on the floor together. Likewise, when Melo is on the bench I'd like to see the Felton/Amare tandem get a lot of burn together.

Stan Van who?

Stan Van Gundy need to figure-out why he is out of a JOB ....
Plus how could SVG speak on PG performance when the best PG SVG had as a NBA headcoach in Miami & Orlando were PG-Rafer Alston.
And SVG kicked PG-Rafer Alston to the curb on both teams.
PG-Rafer Alston took SVG to his first playoff series, and to the FINALS.

I always looked at Jameer Nelson performance as equal to Raymond Felton performance .. two great backup PG.

Jason Kidd is/are a HOF since winning ROY .. on any given night u can expect a "triple-double" from Jason Kidd .. plus Kidd's strong career in team-leadership has always pulled 99.9 % of his teammates to follow Kidd's lead.

I am not sure on SVG comment on Amare but....
The trio of Kidd, Brewer, and Amare run-run transition could change a game in the Knicks favor in just 5 to 7 minutes on the court.

Be happy

As for the poll on Kidd vs Felton ....

Kidd's career at changing the tempo of a game in a matter of seconds from halfcourt to run run transition with lob-passes, and one bounce of the ball to score from one end to the next end of the court for a dunk or catch n shoot .. the 18 yr career Jason Kidd's same-page performance with teammates are still the NBA BOSS .. owner Cuban had a major reason for getting upset this offseason...

Kidd has a great feel for the game. It'll be interesting to see how it works after sitting on the bench to start the games. Maybe he'll get more insight. Kidd is good defensively on the wings, playing as a gambling free safety. His basketball IQ, being able to read sets and jumping lanes even before th offensive player gets there has been his bread and butter for the latter part of his career. He'll get burned by quicker jitter bug guards, but now with Chandler/Camby in the paint, he'll probably pinch to the opponents strong side, funneling them to Chandler and Camby. In addition working on the 2nd unit, he won't get the best the other guys have to throw at us, until the last 5 minutes. Kidd will be good for 20 minutes, after that it's a crap shoot.

Man **** SVG! That fat unemployeed mother****a can suck a fat donkey dick. Never won ****, is constantly in the shadow of his brother and might have been the death blow to the Magic franchise with this dwight howard ****. The guy is a bum. I don't give a **** what he said cause his insight into the game is worse then D'antoni's.

Now regarding what he said, is he lying? I mean he's making a lot of valid points here about the Knicks and Amare. They have a full training camp together so we can see how it goes. As much as I hate Boston they're looking like the 2nd best in the east as of now. Also depending on DRoses injury. Their core is pretty much still there and they've added some nice YOUNG pieces through FA and the draft.

About the Lakers....
I'm not gonna sit here and lie to myself and say they didn't get better bc they did but how much of a upgrade is Dwight over Bynum? More athleticism? Yea. For anyone to say "the lakers will crush the heat" or "I'm picking the lakers to win the championship" is so far fetch and is kinda funny but not surprising coming from knick fans. The lakers bench is still subpar and their defense outside of Dwight now is no good. Just like every team that has super star players, they'll need to gel and get used to each other. It took Miami a year and a half to do so. Dwight won't even be ready by season start.

The lakers have gotten better but so did Miami and other teams too. SVG isn't really liked in south beach for certain reasons but he makes sense at times

Now regarding what he said, is he lying? I mean he's making a lot of valid points here about the Knicks and Amare. They have a full training camp together so we can see how it goes. As much as I hate Boston they're looking like the 2nd best in the east as of now. Also depending on DRoses injury. Their core is pretty much still there and they've added some nice YOUNG pieces through FA and the draft.

About the Lakers....
I'm not gonna sit here and lie to myself and say they didn't get better bc they did but how much of a upgrade is Dwight over Bynum? More athleticism? Yea. For anyone to say "the lakers will crush the heat" or "I'm picking the lakers to win the championship" is so far fetch and is kinda funny but not surprising coming from knick fans. The lakers bench is still subpar and their defense outside of Dwight now is no good. Just like every team that has super star players, they'll need to gel and get used to each other. It took Miami a year and a half to do so. Dwight won't even be ready by season start.

The lakers have gotten better but so did Miami and other teams too. SVG isn't really liked in south beach for certain reasons but he makes sense at times

You didnt do a good job of proving this point. Pau Gasol is a good defender, so is World Peace and Kobe. Nash is the only weak link, defensively as SVG said. So whats so far fetched about pickin the Lakers? To me the Lakers, the Heat...really doesnt make a difference. The thunder will be there again too. To me you just sound like a sensitive Heat fan thats butt hurt over some Knicks fans pickin Lakers over Heat. Its nothing personal with me, Dwights exactly the type of player you need to slow down Wade and Lebron. His defense at the rim is on a level by itself. I think the Thunder are a worse matchup for the Lakers then the Heat. Perkins has slowed down Dwight several times when he played for the celtics and Ibaka has given Pau problems. Westbrook will leave scorch marks on Steve Ash.